Quite extraordinary really to think that a supposed developed western civilisation such as this cannot continue to provide one of the most basic services. Given how much money they make out of us the rest of the year you would think it would be possible for them to run their services at a small loss for 2-3 days over the festive period. After all its hardly going to have a major impact on their bottom line. As for staff not wanting to work over the festive period, put it in their contract that on occasion they might just have to extend themselves beyond their union agreed 8 hours. Just as mine does, which is why I'm in working everyday this week. Tis all another classic example of how the service industry in this country has gone to pot.

Nick W, Hampstead, London

It's time we made up our minds in Britain as to whether transport is a public service or not. We're regularly told by the media that we're a nation of car travellers, yet when Christmas comes we all want to go by train apparently. The media are only interested in public transport when there's something to criticise.

In London at least there are bus services on Boxing Day, although many large stores will in fact be closed that day. Why not just go for a walk, and leave your serious travelling and shopping until Thursday?

Barry, Wallington, UK

As someone who has worked on Christmas day on numerous occasions as a student for much less than minimum wage (£4.50 per hour is the highest I was ever paid) I see no reason why train/bus drivers (who have chosen to work in the public service sector, much as I chose to work to work in a bar) should not work on these days considering that they are paid much higher wages.

For those of you enjoying Christmas dinner in a hotel, pub or restaurant please spare a thought for the low paid staff serving you!

AK , Swindon ,

are you sure you are correct.? an entire shutdown all over the country?

For example, my local station and rail inquries tell me there is an hourly train service from london charing cross through tonbridge and down to the Kent coast on Boxing Day and i have seen a printed timetable outside the station to that effect.

i beiivee also the Gatwick Express is running a hall hourly service (as opposed to every 15 minutes) on Boxing Day to London Victroria and it is also possible that day to travel from Gatwick down to Brighton.

dave, Tonbridge, Kent

Matthew Parris can explain why this happens. He's just realised the problem in a privatised system when the customer of a service is not the person who uses it.

Rail companies sell their product to the state, not to their passengers. That's why their overwhelming attitude is that passengers are a nuisance who can be treated with contempt. The state will continue to give them huge amounts of our money whether we like the service they provide or not.

It's just a shame My Parris's party weren't aware of this basic principle of economics twenty years ago. Privatisation only works for the public where companies end up genuinely competing for the business of individuals.

Let's either completely privatise the rail system, or completely nationalise it. All that the current system has produced is confusion about who takes responsiblity for the mess and a load of people on fat salaries from the public purse presiding over bits of it.

Jamie Gilmour, Bolton, UK

Not only are there no trains over Christmas but here in North Somerset, there are no busses either. It is absolutely ridicilous. Seriously, what about people without cars? Surely Christmas is the time of year when we visit friends and relatives the most. It affects me a great deal. My mum will be stranded at the airport on Boxing Day coming from abroad to see her grandchild and the only way to get here is a very expensive taxi. As far as work over Christmas is concerned, I can't see why train and bus drivers should be excused. There are lots of people at work that time. What if let's say firefighters, medical staff or a water company decided they couldn't be bothered?

Jiri, Weston-Super-Mare,

What world is Radu Ppopsecu living in? Maintenence only 1 day a year?

And all the poor diddums in the unions who can't/won't work on Christmas Day - bring back Maggie Thatcher before the country is finally stuffed.

I vaguely remember from the early 1950s with the long gone "pea souper" fogs buses struggling through with a staff member guiding with a torch showing the edge of the pavement. OH&S would put paid to that wouldn't they...

Ah well, carry on living in your fading fool's paradise.

Gerry Watts, Hobart, Tasmania, Australia

Surely one of the advantages of living in a multi cultural, multi ethnic country is that there should be plenty of people for whom Christmas means nothing and who would be prepared to work in return for time off for their own festivals at other times? Even if there aren't there would be plenty of people who would happily work if they were compensated accordingly. These rail franchises are like a licence to print money. It's time we got a decent service in return for our billions. More government incompetence.

Paul Owen, Birmingham, UK

As usual, we are the sick man of Europe. It's the same kind of thing with the expansion of the Schengen area recently. Why are we so bad at anything for the people compared with Europe - especially transport.

K Rogers, Preston, Lancashire

Of course, it's not about the money. It's about...the money. I thoroughly enjoyed Mr. Grogan's observation that "for many people...24 hours (with relatives) is quite enough." Actually, I'm overstuffed after about 24 minutes.

Bah, humbug. Bless us all!

Bob Otto, Lebanon, Ohio/USA

Association of Train Operating Companies: “Train companies are not in the business of running services they know will lose money."

And to think the railway in Britain was once a public service. It was bad enough then but now it's just a service to shareholders to make money.

B Redfern, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Looks like I'm out of favour with 'Have your say'. Merry Christmas!

Brian Wildey, Fleurance, France

"would you want to work over christmas?...... no I wouldn't either."

In the course of my life I have often had to work either Christmas or New Year. Many other European countries operate a Sunday service on those days so I don't see why the argument is different in the UK.

B Redfern, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

The planned shutdown is also essential for maintenance and upgrade of the rail network. If we want to have a better / more reliable service in the long term then we will have to accept that, at some point, the railways need to be closed - and we will have to make alternative arrangements for those periods.

Radu Popescu, Berkhamsted,

Complete insanity! britain once again out of step with the rest of the world - not just Europe.

oldasiahand, Nice, France

The thing we always forget abnout the railways is that they are public service... That's how they should be run... the arguement was that they'd be more efficient if privatised... that is joke... look at the reveues transport groups get in this country... WHERE DOES IT GO..? Why are the passengers paying through the nose for a rubbish service...? privatisation has made the railways worse...

Garry W, London,

Don't you get it. This is when they get a lot of maintenance doen, with the least disruption to their loyal top rate paying customer, commuters. There will be loads of people working on trains all over the Xmas period while they rush to get the maximum done with minimum service loss tot he rest of us.

Mike, Newport, South Wales,

its a disgrace. yet again the public transport companies let the country down. Poor service, delays and high prices are just the tip of the iceberg to be honest. How they think they can close down the trains for 58 hours is ok is beyond me.

It seems like the ideal job is being a train driver now. You can be late and it wont matter, you have all of christmas off, you get the only guarenteed seat on the train and get paid ridiculous amounts of money to drive in a straight line....on tracks!

A huge number of people work over christmas now and this highlights the laziness of our train companies.

Olly, Reading, England

Never mind the 'cant get to sporting fixtures' how about the 'cant get to visit friends or relatives'?
Mind you, it is after all a Christian festival, soooo if all the people who want a 'winterval' would work on those days, or even those who are non christian, then whats the problem?
MA
PS Im taking a sicky today to do some shopping!

Mike Asacret, Cambridge, England

I live in London. My parents and other family live in Brighton. I would very much like to spend Christmas day with them. I work on Boxing day ( as a betting shop manager, there is no way I can have this day off ). No car, no trains, no buses, taxis triple fare. That's me bu**ered then.

colin, london, england

Nice one train operators! As a gesture of good will to all men we can just sod off at xmas and don't come back until thursday when inflated prices and naff service will resume.

kevin blake, leicester, uk

Pathetic. It sounds like neanderthal workers, fag in mouth, sleeves rolled up and tattoos displayed, are getting all Trade Union indignant. And no one can be bothered to align Britain with the rest of Europe. Not everyone thinks Xmas is is some kind of holy or even enjoyable occasion; plenty of people like me barely recognise it. Bah, humbug. And its about time the rail network said the same thing, in the same way Britain eventually got round to having Sunday shopping.

Joe, Manchester,

I would like to have a regular bus service from where I live in order to get to a train station and catch a train on an ordinary day!!!

John Evans, Alton, UK

We have chosen to run our trains on a semi-commercial basis rather than seeing them as an integral part of our way of life like the rest of Europe. Comparisons with hospitals etc are therefore illogical.. Why should train companies provide something that will not make a profit.?

Kevin Thompson, Highy Wycombe, UK

The reality is railways are operated by private companies under franchise agreements specified by Government. Unless the government specifies operations on these days in these agreements (virtually all do not), private Train Operating Companies will decide whether they can profitably run trains on these dates. Like every other private business, Christmas operating comes with double time costs and an understandable unwillingness of staff to work (they are private employee's not public servants !). Most TOC's don't believe there is enough demand to cover the costs and choose not to run, but in recent years more are running some key routes on Boxing Day.

What's often forgotten is that Christmas is the most important time of the year for Network Rail, providing the biggest gap in the year in which to complete the biggest works.

That said, increasing demand for mobilty and action on climate change means the Government must look at specifying Christmas running in future franchises.

Factfinder, London, England

If rail staff don't want to work on holidays perhaps they should all get jobs in a bank. I've been in the broadecasting business for forty years and can count the number of times I've had off on Xmas on
the fingers of one hand. iI comes with the turf.

Bruce L. Northwood, Silver Spring, USA

Perhaps the time has come to tarmac over the railway lines and replace trains with high-speed coaches. They would be more reliable and flexible, and they would be less vulnerable to operator and trade union monopolies. They would probably result in lower CO2 emissions when you factor in electricity generation and the waste involved in running some trains near-empty.

Oh, and long-distance coaches are safer than trains.

Unfortunately, because we have grown up on Thomas the Tank Engine, we tend to think that trains are somehow 'nice'.

frank upton, Solihull,

Well Richard of B irmingham, I expect if you urgently needed hospital care you would expect to find medical staff working. As a retired ATCO I can tell you that loads of people work at Christmas at the airports. When I left in 2000 there were over 350 movements on Christmas Day at Heathrow, airlines from countries such as India, the muslim ones, Israel etc keep flying and there will be loads of long haul flights arriving. For instance my pilot son flies in tomorrow morning with Virgin and my ATCO son starts his recurring shift pattern on Boxing Day. It really is no big deal working at Christmas or any other public holiday.

Brian Wildey, Fleurance, France

Once again the politicians do not want me to spend time with my family during the festive period.

Can Parliament please work Christmas day and Boxing day, along with all the financial institutions, and all of those other offices that sem to be able to close down for a whole WEEK.

Robert Waller, LONDON, UK

We simply need to decide (vote?) that the railway is a public service rather than a profit making enterprise.

John Howard Norfolk, Tiverton, Devon, UK

I think this comment sums it up: “Train companies are not in the business of running services they know will lose money. Undoubtedly there would be some demand, but not enough to justify a commercial service.”

The problem of privatisation where the companies that take over expect to make a profit never mind providing a service.

Jay, Newbury, England

The police, fire, hospitals and many other services have to work over the christmas period for clear reaons, however, let the people who can enjoy the festive period, enjoy! 58 hours really isn't that long.

Julie, Sheffield,

Susan from Barry must be very young. There were trains on Christmas Day when i was a child in the 50s. The point that other countries have trains on Boxing Day is meaningless as it is not a national holiday in most other countries (including the USA).

Roger Tilbury, Worthing,

Closed for 58 hours? You have to be joking!The line at Rugby station is going to be closed on 25th, 26th, 27th, 28th, 29th, 30th and 31st Dec. This paralises the west coast main line and connections between London, Milton Keynes, Northampton to Coventry, Birmingham, Manchester, Liverpool, Glasgow etc. It's an absolute disgrace and the government haven't got the guts to stand up to the operators. As for the subsidy, I would heavily fine the operators for any day the lines are closed (which at Rugby is most weekends, with replacement bus services that take for ever to get anywhere). I now hear the fares are increases well over inflation and the ticket estrictions are so severe that for 99% of journeys you have to pay full open fares to London. The latest payment to Branson is an even bigger disgrace!

Phil C, Rugby, UK

The trains have always stopped early on Christmas Eve, I don't blame them. It won't effect me because I will have finished worked at 12 myself.

Susan, Barry, S Wales

Plenty of people would be willing to work over Christmas if the money was right.

The lack of trains wouldn't be so bad if the fares weren't so high and the service so poor for the rest of the year.

Bob, London,

Yes, it's outrageous. Many, many people already work on Xmas day and Boxing day. Rail staff should be no different.

More encouraging is the comparison with Europe! Not a mention of America. Is this a sign that we may choose to align with civilisation, rather than decadence; democracy rather than aggression?

I look forward to 2008, and a train journey on Boxing day.

Martin, Crawley, England

Yes it is christmas, but do hospitals, the fire service or police stop working over the christmas period. For many people christamas is just another day as they go to work, and they still rely on public transport to get them there, and not taxis which charge outragous ammounts over this period.Public transport which is subdised by the public in way of taxes, should be avaliable at all times at the point of use, as paid for.

hardeep, derby,

Stupid article from the unifmored I'm afraid, drivers, guards, signallers, and all the other front line staff needed to runa service will never sign upto work over the christmas weekend..... would you want to work over christmas?...... no I wouldn't either.

Richard, Birmingham,